This invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the ground-contacting portion of tire tread. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the ground-contacting portion of tread which apparatus measures a contact pressure distribution of tire tread and its behaviour during rolling the the tire.
Generally, a contact pressure distribution and behaviour of the ground-contacting portion of a tire during its rolling change remarkably and complicatedly according to the rotating condition of the tire, its air pressure and load, magnitude and direction of shear force acting on the ground-contacting portion, structural factors of the tire itself, and so forth.
It is therefore very important for the development of tires to find the contact pressure distribution and behaviour during rolling of the tire.
Although conventional measuring apparatuses for tire tread can measure the contact pressure distribution of the ground-contacting portion of a tire while the tire is at half, none of them can measure accurately the contact pressure distribution of the ground-contacting portion of the tire and its behaviour during rolling.